Didier Lockwood - 'Round About Silence

Styles: Violin, Saxophone And Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:05
Size: 130,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:32)  1. Remember Alby
(4:35)  2. La Javalseuse
(2:19)  3. Grenouille
(4:44)  4. Sao Luis
(5:46)  5. Madiva
(3:30)  6. Extrasystoles
(4:06)  7. 'Round About Silence
(4:56)  8. Bossa Pour Didier
(4:44)  9. Nicou
(4:22) 10. Epique Ou Rien
(3:11) 11. Hati
(4:17) 12. Rue De La Forêt
(2:39) 13. Ballade Des Fées
(2:18) 14. Jour De Pluie

Didier Lockwood (born February 11, 1956) is a French jazz violinist. He was born in Calais and studied classical violin and composition at the Calais Conservatory. However, his brother Francis made him receptive to forms of music other than the classical and he quit his studies in 1972. Didier was entranced by the improvisation of Jean-Luc Ponty on Frank Zappa's King Kong album and took up the amplified violin. He joined the progressive rock group Magma, touring and notable featured on their 1975 Live/Hhaï album. Lockwood was also influenced by Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert and Stéphane Grappelli, whom he joined on tour. Didier Lockwood in concert (1992)He has also played with Quebecois fusion group Uzeb on their Absolutely Live album. He is famous for exploring new musical environments and for performing various sound imitations on his amplified violin, such as seagulls or trains.On July 23, 1982, in Montreux, Switzerland, he performed in concert with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, drummer Billy Cobham, bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, and keyboardist David Sancious.Didier Lockwood created a string instruments improvisation school, CMDL (Centre des Musiques Didier Lockwood), in 2001.He is married to singer Caroline Casadesus Throughout 2006 Didier has been touring with Martin Taylor the Jazz guitarist. In these performances it is noticeable to see that he is very involved in improvisation. https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/didierlockwood

Personnel: Didier Lockwood / violin, alto sax (10,13), trumpet (7,13), mandolin (5); Benoît Sourisse / piano;  Marc-Michel Le Bévillon / double bass; André Charlier / drums;  Caroline Casadesus / vocals (4,7); Biréli Lagrène / guitar (2,8); Marc Berthoumieux / accordion (4,11); Eric Séva / soprano (5,7) & tenor (10) saxes; Dominique Marc / tenor sax (13); Damien Verherve / trombone (10);  Claude Egéa / trumpet & fluegelhorn (10)

'Round About Silence

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Irene Reid - One Monkey Don't Stop No Show

Styles: Vocal 
Year: 2002
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 45:56
Size: 84,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:48)  1. I'm Getting Tired
(4:22)  2. Things We Said Today
(4:17)  3. Ain't Nobody Sleepin' In My Bed
(5:22)  4. One Monkey Don't Stop No Show
(4:08)  5. I've Gotta Be Me
(7:30)  6. You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me
(5:50)  7. I Took the Backdoor Out
(5:00)  8. If the World Should End Tomorrow
(4:37)  9. Time's Getting Tougher Than Tough

Imagine a well-aged Billie Holiday imbued with Dinah Washington’s rollicking blues sensibility and you’ll begin to appreciate the magic of Irene Reid. Like so many gifted jazz singers of her generation, Reid burned briefly hot in the early 1950s, retired too young, eased her way back into the business in Europe, then became an underappreciated staple at various New York nightspots. In recent years, the Savannah-born sexagenarian has been enjoying a richly deserved renaissance thanks to a solid series of albums for Savant. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show, Reid’s fourth Savant release, shows her in top form, surrounded by such terrific sidemen as guitarist Randy Johnston, trumpeter James Rotondi and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, with Bobby Forrester pumping away on the Hammond B-3 organ that Reid’s so fond of. Moving through an eclectic assortment of covers, she takes the Beatles’ “Things We Said Today” for a jaunty spin, serves up a warmly sedate version of the Gladys Knight anthem “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and rescues “I’ve Gotta Be Me” from Sammy Davis overdrive, reminding us that it was always meant to be an unadorned salute to quiet self-respect. Reid is even more satisfying when dipping into the blues basket for such Dinahesque paeans to satisfied self-reliance as “I’m Gettin’ Tired,” “Ain’t Nobody Sleepin’ in My Bed” and Joe Tex’s quirky title track, originally made famous by Big Maybelle. But none of One Monkey’s tunes can quite compare to Reid’s stirring interpretation of O.C. Smith’s “If the World Should End Tomorrow.” Quite simply, a spectacular song spectacularly well done. ~ Christopher Loudon https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/irene-reid-one-monkey-dont-stop-no-show/

One Monkey Don't Stop No Show

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Eric Wyatt - Look To The Sky

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:52
Size: 159,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:16)  1. E-Brother
(8:38)  2. Look To The Sky
(7:44)  3. My Favorite Things
(7:08)  4. Jolley Charlie
(8:30)  5. A Psalm For Phennie
(4:34)  6. One Finger Snap
(8:06)  7. Afro Blue
(7:04)  8. Starting Point
(5:48)  9. Tenderly

Look To The Sky is a story of family, navigating the world of jazz, and extolling those who helped light the way. To call it a tribute record would be to frame it inaccurately, but it's most certainly built around the personalized song of praise. Saxophonist Eric Wyatt, a brawny Brooklynite with a heart of gold, uses this date to honor his parents, touch on touchstones, and walk down memory lane with his bandmates. He doesn't feign nostalgic sentiments or lean on sappy ideals, but there are clear echoes of the past in his instruments and the stories they tell. Opening on pianist Benito Gonzalez's "E-Brother," the first of three numbers influenced by Wyatt's mother's passing, this band wastes no time establishing a take-no-prisoners approach to music-making. The two other pieces honoring her the bounding cut-and-slash title track, asserting the new heavenly home for the family's late matriarch, and "A Psalm For Phennie," a cathartic outpouring with a spiritually-paved entrance come at her life force in different yet complementary ways. Right beside that aforementioned psalm sits the sonic spirit of Wyatt's father, the man responsible for ushering him into the world of jazz. A rough-and-tumble tune driven by bassist Eric Wheeler's relentless walking, enlivened by the back-and-forth between Wyatt and drummer Kyle Poole, and giving Gonzalez a blank slate to paint over, "Jolley Charlie" perfectly encapsulates this leader's broad knowledge of the horn while highlighting the deep affection he carries for his musical guiding light. Four of the five remaining tunes on the playlist are classics that, while nodding to the masters, were actually pulled into the present by circumstance and use: A charged and racing take on Herbie Hancock's "One Finger Snap" recalls the first time Wyatt and trumpeter Keyon Harrold ever played together; a 4/4 take on "Afro Blue," complete with a dicey undercurrent, carries status as a crowd-pleaser in Wyatt's live sets; soprano staple "My Favorite Things" was a condition of employment for his band at a jazz festival in Kuala Lumpur; and "Tenderly," performed as a piano-and-sax duo, instantly replaces this artist's tough-minded image with that of a romantic. There are some minor quips to be made here the vocals on "My Favorite Things" detract a bit from the performance, the production doesn't always seem to display true depth of field but that's all they are. In the end, Look To The Sky's edgy soul-searching and songcraft win out. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/look-to-the-sky-eric-wyatt-whaling-city-sound-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel:  Eric Wyatt: tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, vocals;  Benito Golzalez: piano;  Keyon Harrold: trumpet;  Eric Wheeler: bass; Shinnosuke Takahashi: drums;  Kyle Poole: drums (4-6);  Andrea Miller: vocals (3).

Look To The Sky

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Bob Brookmeyer - Electricity

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 1991
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:47
Size: 160,4 MB
Art: Front

(16:47)  1. Farewell, New York
(10:33)  2. Ugly Music
(11:40)  3. Wihite Blues
( 7:15)  4. Say Ah
(13:14)  5. No Song
(10:15)  6. The Crystal Palace

Electricity is another one of an infrequent series of recordings by Bob Brookmeyer, who used to pop up all over the place throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While he's always been rooted firmly in the mainstream (Gerry Mulligan, the Concert Jazz Band, the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra and his own records on Verve), Brookmeyer has also consistently approached creative music in unorthodox ways (his two-piano quartet with Bill Evans, and his trombone jazz samba records). His greatest gifts, though, are his contributions to orchestral jazz. His tonal palette has many more shades than one expects. As a result, his compositions and arrangements often require more than one listen. There's much to appreciate in his music's richness and depth. Even though in his notes to Electricity , Brookmeyer writes, "I think that I'm looking more for meaning and worrying less about coloring the orchestra," he manages to achieve both here. But Electricity , as its title may suggest, is by no means a look backwards. Many of Brookmeyer's six long tunes (ranging from seven to sixteen minutes each) are framed by John Abercrombie's thrashing electric guitar or cushioned by his tasteful guitar synth or other electronic keyboards. This March 1991 recording finds Brookmeyer fronting the excellent WDR Big Band (which also supports Mike Gibbs, Bernard Purdie and Eddie Harris on other recent Act Jazz releases). The German WDR Big Band, like the Dutch Metropole Orchestra, are all that remain of the great jazz orchestras many of which Brookmeyer has successfully contributed to since the early 1950s! 

All of these pieces have a progressive, story-like pattern to them, utilizing Abercrombie as the principal storyteller. "Farewell New York" is a 16-minute dirge that begins with Abercrombie's dissonant guitar-synth wail then progresses into march-like cadenzas to eventually find the guitarist in a more contemplative mood. Its intensity oddly recalls Elton John's "Funeral for A Friend." The album's strongest tracks, "Ugly Music" and "Say Ah" bring to mind those cool, jazzy soundtracks of Italian mystery films from the 1970s (i.e.: Deep Red ). Abercrombie is simply amazing throughout. He can mine the wealth of innovations from Hendrix and Montgomery to Farlow and Frisell and yet never lose his own multiply talented identities. One senses that Electricity more successfully achieves much of what Gil Evans was trying to accomplish in the late 1970s and 1980s with his own big bands. Aside from the lovely, almost simplistic harmonies and rhythmic patterns, Brookmeyer's choice of a main soloist with multiple talents (in this case, Abercrombie) is perfect. Some listeners may be discouraged that Brookmeyer didn't showcase his own beautiful and distinctive valve trombone (his only real features are brief ones in "No Song" and "The Crystal Place"). But that's a small gripe. Brookmeyer always reveals so much more as a musician in his orchestrations. For the small group fans, however, Challenge Records recently issued Brookmeyer's Paris Suite , a 1993-94 session which finds the valve trombonist leading a Dutch quartet. Electricity is highly recommended to those who appreciate the lost art of orchestral jazz in a contemporary setting and, most especially, to fans of John Abercrombie who is nothing short of brilliant in his varied roles here. ~ Douglas Payne https://www.allaboutjazz.com/electricity-bob-brookmeyer-act-music-review-by-douglas-payne.php

Personnel:  Valve Trombone, Composed By, Liner Notes, Mixed By [Remixed] – Bob Brookmeyer;  Bass – Dieter Ilg;  Drums – Danny Gottlieb;  Guitar – John Abercrombie;  Keyboards – Frank Chastenier, Rainer Brüninghaus;  Orchestra – WDR Big Band Köln;  Saxophone – Heiner Wiberny, Olivier Peters, Paul Peucker, Rolf Römer;  Trombone – Bernt Laukamp, Dave Horler , Roy Deuvall;  Trumpet – Andy Haderer, Klaus Osterloh, Rick Kiefer

Electricity

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Tony Kofi And The Organisation - Point Blank

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:09
Size: 148,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:04)  1. Minor League
(5:49)  2. Bossallegro
(5:50)  3. Theme from Mr Lucky
(6:07)  4. Search for Peace
(5:56)  5. L S Blues
(5:26)  6. Cisco
(4:49)  7. Full House
(5:48)  8. Moontrane
(4:57)  9. Summer in Central Park
(6:15) 10. Ready and Able
(9:05) 11. Ode to Billie Jo (Bonus Track)

British saxophonist Tony Kofi has made a specialism of heritage projects. Among the best of them is the Monk Liberation Front, a band which Kofi co-founded with pianist Jonathan Gee in 2003 and which performs Thelonious Monk's music. The work of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley is the focus of another venture. An early spin-off from the Front was the Tony Kofi Quartet's paradigm tweaking Plays Monk: All Is Know (Specific, 2004). The Adderley project has yet to be recorded. In late 2017, Kofi also put together the band which accompanied harpist Alina Bzhezhinska in a London concert headlined by Pharoah Sanders and dedicated to the legacy of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane. The same band is featured on Bzhezhinska's sublime Inspiration (Ubuntu, 2018). Kofi moves effortlessly between soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, and it is the baritone which he plays on Point Blank. The disc co-stars The Organisation, a guitar / organ / drums trio which specialises in soul jazz and funk, and with whom Kofi first performed in 2010. The ten-track album features jazz standards and lesser-known material written by Duke Pearson, Pepper Adams, Henry Mancini, McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Smith, Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, Woody Shaw, Horace Silver and Jimmy Smith. "I don't think I set out to create a retro concept," says Kofi, "but because I grew up in the 1970s, the music of that era is deeply rooted within my musical ear." The title Point Blank is inspired by John Boorman's 1967 movie of the same name, which starred Lee Marvin as a gangster engaged in a war of attrition with his former colleagues in a Mafia-like outfit called The Organization. The soundtrack for the film was written by Johnny Mandel, and Kofi rather missed a trick by not including something from Mandel's luscious songbook on the disc.  The music on the album is performed with elan and given a refreshing twist by the use of baritone rather than tenor saxophone, the default horn featured with most bands such as The Organisation. Further, despite the organ, the disc, particularly on the ballads, sometimes evokes Gerry Mulligan's keyboard-less (and guitar-less) quartet with Chet Baker an added bonus. Point Blank does not go anywhere we have not gone before, but it is an enjoyable ride nonetheless. ~ Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/point-blank-tony-kofi-the-last-music-company-review-by-chris-may.php

Personnel: Tony Kofi: baritone saxophone; Pete Whittaker: organ; Pete Cater: drums; Simon Fernsby: guitar.

Point Blank

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